This invention relates to vehicle weighing.
It may be desirable to know the weight of a commercial vehicle for a number of reasons. Firstly, the amount charged for transporting cargo by vehicle is normally based upon distance to destination and on the weight of the cargo. Cargo weight may be determined by subtracting the loaded weight of the vehicle from its empty weight. Secondly, it is inefficient to drive a partially loaded vehicle. To avoid this, a vehicle could be loaded with a variety of different loads, however, in such instance the vehicle can be weighed to ensure the loads do not exceed the maximum capacity of the vehicle. Further, public authorities have an interest in ensuring certain weight restrictions are adhered to on public highways in order to protect the public infrastructure. And fines may be levied on vehicles which exceed specific weight limitations.
While weigh scales can be used to obtain the axle weight, and total weight, of vehicles, scales may not be conveniently available when needed. For this reason, a number of on-board weighing systems have been developed.
Nevertheless, there remains a need for an improved on-board vehicle weighing approach.